PRESS RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 17, 2008

The Real Canadian Superstore's Moose Jaw employees took a strike vote on Monday in an attempt to hurry up contract negotiations with their employer, Loblaw Companies Limited.

Paul Meinema, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1400 president, said the approximately 250 votes from the Moose Jaw store will be part of the 3,000 total Saskatchewan votes cast, the results of which determine if the union will use job action as a bargaining tool with the employer.

The union will complete voter meetings among the 16 provincial communities it represents on Wednesday, tallying those votes Thursday.

Although he wouldn't go into specific negotiation details at this time, Meinema said the purpose behind the strike vote is to get the employer to pursue negotiations for the employees' contract, which expired March 6.

"We believe they're not taking the whole process seriously." He said 25 days of negotiations resulted in no serious considerations of the union's requests.

If employees do vote for a strike, Meinema said the union could use that to help hurry negotiations.

Although he wouldn't go into details as to what the Local 1400 wants in the new contract, Meinema did say employers must try to assist their staff, rather than make things more difficult for them, "especially in these economic times."